Posts Tagged ‘help with shipping’

Dear eBay Queen:

What is the deal with people these days?  In the last three weeks I have had offers on my items that were simply unnecessary! One of those customers offers a super low offer, and I am like, ok I’ll take that, accept offer.  I send them an invoice, and I get the following message.

I love this item, but your shipping is ridiculously high.  I don’t understand why you can’t throw it in a bag and just send it for a couple of bucks. Why do sellers like you need to make money on the item and the shipping?

Why do buyers thing this way?  What can I do to make this situation better? This is an item with shape that would be ruined if crushed if I sent it this way. I thought maybe I should send them a copy of the USPS shipping rate chart, or maybe I could just cancel the sale.   What do you think I should do?

Yesterday I went to the post office and saw something unusual.  I paid for four First Class Parcels at the post office. I didn’t add Delivery Confirmation to any of them (I know, I should have, but I didn’t have time to make the labels). The system generated a small, bar-code sticker that says “tracking” on it. The clerk didn’t know exactly what these new stickers were for — some sort of “internal tracking system,” he thought. I reached for one of the packages still lying on the counter, saying I would write down the number and see if it was trackable. The clerk — a sweet guy who’s been there for years — actually swept it up out of my reach and said customers were not allowed to do that.  I emailed my customers asking them  to make a note of the numbers and email them to me so I can see if they are trackable in the usual way. Do you know anything about this?

Courtney

Dear Courtney:

I have also fell victim to the buyer that refuses to pay shipping.  One way to get around this is to offer free shipping.  I started doing offering free shipping 3 years ago, and have found buyers complain less about the cost of shipping.  In this particular situation I would email them back, and let them know what exact shipping is on the item.  Let them know you cannot ship this in a bag because you are pretty sure it will arrive broken.  I’m sorry you have to deal with this.

I have never heard of the post office doing that. I will do a little checking, with my post office friends and see if they can shed some light on this issue.

Dear eBay Queen:

I met you a few weeks ago and asked you a bunch of eBay questions. I forgot one.  This one has to do with shipping charges.  So, now that eBay is charging fees for shipping, are the fees based on the shipping stated in listing or the actually amount the buyer pays? I ask this because I just sent a combine shipping invoice to a buyer and I would like to know if I’m being charged for the shipping discount.

I’ve taken your advice and I am going to start listing all my items with free shipping starting August 12^th. I figure after that date I won’t need to worry about combine shipping discounts.

Thanks for looking into this for me, and for chatting with me a few weeks ago.

Ann C.

Dear Ann:

The fee is based on the shipping price you have listed and NOT the actual shipping. One of my GTC listings rolled over after 30 days and now there are two separate charges when the item sells. One line shows the FVF for the price of the item. The next line states shipping for that item and it’s FVF. For me, it’s 11%.

eBay has this really cool thing called a fee calculator.  You can enter all the information in for a sale and it will list the fees out for you.  You can check out the fee calculator here: http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/Feecalculator.html   Let me know how your new venture in free shipping goes.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 110719930386 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page):  This week I’m on a Mission Trip in Joplin Missouri with 30 junior high and high school kids. Check out this Janis “Joplin” Black and White Photo SOLD $760.00 Check it out HERE

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? Email: questions@asktheebayqueen.com

Dear eBay Queen:

I had a buyer purchase some earrings on January 30.  She complained my shipping costs were too high.  In the name of customer service I decided to lower the charges by $1.00.  The buyer finally paid on February 6th. I shipped on February 7th and made a label through PayPal.

This week the buyer e-mails me and says "I never received the earrings! What the heck is going on?”  I looked at tracking and saw that it was delivered on Feb.11th. I emailed the buyer to let them know, and they emailed back with their address, and asking me to confirm the address I sent it too.  I realize after looking at the PayPal page, that I shipped to the WRONG address and to the WRONG STATE.

In my defense, it said confirmed address and verified buyer too. I tried to figure out what to do on PayPal, but it looks like now it is up to the buyer to file a claim. Please give me your advice what to do. I don't want to receive negative feedback, and I don’t really think I should refund her money. It is only $15, so I will if I have to, but I don’t want too!

Blue’s Gifts –n- More

Dear Blue:

The first thing I would do is go to the eBay item and check her address out there.  Does it match the one listed in PayPal?  If the PayPal address and the eBay address to do not match the address your buyer gave you, I would call the buyer and let them know.  If you do not feel comfortable calling them, you can email them, but it usually saves some time talking to them on the phone.

I’m guessing your buyer has moved, and did not update their contact information.  You are right that this is not your fault, but the buyer could still leave you negative feedback.  In this particular situation I would work with your buyer to get the item back.  I would call the post office in the town your item was delivered and speak to the carrier about the item.  I have had an item returned to the carrier and returned to me once by doing this.

If your buyer does file a claim, you can always point out that you sent the item to the confirmed address.  I don’t know if this will help you win the case, but it should.

If for some reason it ends up that this was not the buyers address and the mistake is yours you will need to refund the buyer.

Dear eBay Queen:

I had a brand new grandbaby born two weeks ago.  I went shopping on eBay for some cute clothes for her.  Anything that was in her size that I liked, and was listed at .99 I would bid $2.01. I bid $2.01 because I figured people would bid $1.99.  I won some and I lost some.

I did win the cutest handmade outfit.  I won the bid for .99 and $3.95 shipping.  I paid for the item via PayPal and waited for the item to get to me. A few hours later I received an email from the seller telling me I owed her another $2.50 and she even sent me an invoice for it on PayPal. She told me the fees and shipping was more than I paid.  She added a little blurb about how she was selling items to make a profit not a loss and she was not giving this away for free.  I wrote her back refusing to pay the extra I told her I
paid everything the listing told me too and if the shipping was more she should have figured that out before listing the item. I also suggested she should not list items for .99 if she is not willing to sell them for that price. I told her I was sorry and that I am also a seller so I feel her pain but I have taken a loss on items along the way too. She sent me the outfit and it is much nicer than I thought. Now I feel bad.

Should I send her the extra money?

Grandma Jenny

Dear Grandma:

Congratulations on your new granddaughter! You are right, it is the sellers responsibility to make sure the shipping is correct and to make sure their profit margin is what it is supposed to be. They also have to realize that if they list an item for 99 cents and it is not bid up at least a few dollars they are not going to make any profit.  On the same note: if they don't price the shipping correctly they could easily lose money. I would not feel bad about the purchase, you did everything a buyer is supposed to do (bid on the item, won and paid promptly).

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 220730555241 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): Did you ever save any Matchbooks? Check out this 9500+ Rare Vintage Matchbook Collection SOLD $3560.00 Chek it out HERE.  

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com

Dear eBay Queen:

I had an eBayer buy 13 books from me with my combined shipping rates posted in my listings.  I shipped the items the next day.  After the buyer left me feedback, I received 13 1 star scores in my DSRs, thereby trashing my account for an entire year and preventing me from becoming a TOP SELLER according to eBay’s rules. After doing a little research, I found out the buyer is another book seller on eBay, A TOP RATED SELLER who DOES NOT POST HIS COMBINED SHIPPING RATES in his listing!!

I thought maybe the DSR scores he left were a mistake. I emailed him to ask if he was happy with the sale. He emailed me back, and said “everything was fine.”

I went above and beyond what I said I would offer in my listing.  I told him I would ship media mail, but I sent the books priority shipping with insurance and tracking.  I called eBay customer support because I read on the feedback information page that “We also have safeguards in place to protect sellers against unfair negative or neutral feedback.”

Could you help me figure out what I am suppose to learn from this? Do you think this seller/buyer did this to prevent me from being a Top Seller?  Why did they buy the items if they were only going to ding my stars?

Bookish

Dear Bookish:

I do understand your frustration, and if this had happened to me I would be livid! I wish I had some really good advice for you.  In a situation like this I would contact the Dean of eBay Education, Jim Griffith griff@eBay.com and let him know what happened.  He will look into it.  If he sees any improprieties he will take action.

This is a really tough situation. I know how important it is to be a Top Rated seller to many people who sell on eBay.  I’ve read lots of articles and believe that most buyers do not understand the Top Rated Seller Program.  eBay has done it’s marketing to the sellers on it’s importance, but not to it’s buyers.  Buyers want their items fast and at a good price, they are not looking for a Top Rated Seller badge.  I know this doesn’t help much.  I hope that Griff is able to help you and the ones will be removed from your Detailed Seller Ratings.

Dear eBay Queen:

I’ve been selling for a year or so. People tell me it is good for your business to sell worldwide. I’ve sold a few things without a problem to other countries, but I am wondering if I should continue to do so.  I was sitting at Starbucks the other day and overheard these 2 women talking about eBay.  They were discussing selling internationally and talked about all the risks.  I butted in on the conversation, and here’s some of the information I learned from them.

1.      Germany, France, Italy, and Israel are high risk and up to 50% of our packages have issues in these countries.

2.      Always ship with tracking

3.      Be prepared to eat 5% of your orders when the buyers file claims because the customs agent stole it.

What do you think of this advice? Is it more of a risk than its worth to sell internationally?? 

Sharon R.

Dear Sharon:

I am not a huge international seller.  I do sell a few things here and there, but most of my products are bulky and heavy, which makes them pretty expensive to ship over seas.

I have heard the same thing about shipping to Germany, France and Italy.  I don’t know what it is about shipping to those countries, but they do seem to have some issues with customs and delivery.  You can easily alleviate this problem by selecting to NOT ship to those countries.

Never ship any package without tracking.  When I ship overseas, I always include insurance.  I am unsure about statement #3.   I do know that if you add insurance to all of your overseas shipments, you will not be “eating” any of your orders.

There is a risk in selling anywhere, but if you have the goods that international buyers want, I say go for it!

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 220730555241 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): Do you like KFC? Watch American Pickers? Check out this Vintage Retirement KFC Pin seen on American Pickers SOLD $500.00 Check it out HERE